Mixed emotions for participating Gooners in France…
Aaron Ramsey
England 2-1 Wales
Aaron played the full 90 minutes as Wales succumbed to England courtesy of Daniel Sturridge’s stoppage time winner. The midfielder was terrier-like in his closing down of opponents in the first half but rarely had the opportunity to get on the ball after the break as England launched wave after wave of attack. Joe Hart was at fault when Gareth Bale put the Dragons ahead on 43 minutes with his second free-kick goal of the tournament. Jamie Vardy, like Sturridge a half time substitute, levelled things up from close range with 17 minutes remaining before the Liverpool striker squeezed in a last-gasp winner.
Jack Wilshere
England 2-1 Wales
Jack didn’t get off the bench against Wales. You suspect he might start against Slovakia given how poor Delle Alli was yesterday.
Mesut Ozil
Germany 0-0 Poland
Mesut played the full 90 minutes as the reigning world champions were held to a scoreless draw at the Stade de France. After a very dull first half both sides had chances to win after the break, including an Ozil effort on 68 minutes that forced Lukasz Fabianski to tip over. The Arsenal midfielder also picked up a booking.
#EURO2016
Alem 0-0 Pol
Remate de Ozil, tapadón de Fabianski
72′ Entro Mario Gomez (el 9) por Draxler pic.twitter.com/KlLivhjZDL— Jean Rodriguez (@JeanRod28) June 16, 2016
Wojciech Szczesny
Germany 0-0 Poland
Wojciech’s thigh injury, picked up against Northern Ireland, meant he was replaced by ex-Gunner Lukasz Fabianski.
England win, Wilshere comes = draw. England without Wilshere > win. Food for thoughts.
Sarcasm or utter bullshit?
I have to say, I thought Ramsey was fantastic against England, especially in the first half. I haven’t seen his stats, but it seemed like there were two of him on the pitch at times!
He was brilliant. Speaking as an England fan, he was the best player on the pitch. Unfortunately for him, while the Wales team works quite well together, there isn’t anyone else anywhere near his level, barring Bale, and apart from his free kick he was anonymous yesterday. Shame really, because despite the British rivalry, I’d like the home nations to do well (albeit not at the expense of England). Even with my Arsenal spectacles removed, the Sp*rs players in the England squad really are abject. Kane’s role seems to be to stand around looking confused. Danny Rose clearly won a… Read more »
From what I’ve seen of Walker, bar his positioning which can be suspect ,he’s quite a good player.
Kane is also a brilliant, near ‘World Class’ player, but I reckon his a bit exhausted after 2 full seasons of club and int. football. Needs a break
And Dier is quality.
Kane is as close to world class as my great aunt Vera.
Being abit harsh there, Walker and Rose I would say have been been consistently good for England so far, would defo play them over Bertrand and Clyne. Dier has been a surprise to me, but then I didn’t realise he was actually coached properly in Portugal for most of his career, therefore has a much better grounding in his passing technique. Would definitely keep him in over boring Milner Ali and Kane however have been very disappointing, Kanes service has been poor so I will let him off but Ali has no excuse. If Wilshere had been in Alis position… Read more »
Ramsey did hustle a lot BUT he got pawned by half of the england team.I lost count of the number of times refree was like “xyz went past ramsey” time and again.A centre midfield player should not be beaten so easily.This is worrying!I hate to say this but he made england players look like messi as they dribbled past him time and again.
Perhaps if the Arsenal crowd were as supportive as the Wales crowd, we’d see Ramsey play like this more often.
yeah, that is probably a valid point. Fans groan every time he goes forward, as if it’s our job to tell him how to play. And it’s not like we have seen lots of time a situation where the opposition score on a counter with Ramsey caught upfield.
I know arsenal fans can be very uppity and groan a lot, but there is element of truth in the frustration with Ramsey. I go get annoyed when people end up blaming the fans for everything. For Wales, he plays as a Box to Box CM with a team effort mentality. His best season with us was doing the exact same thing. But it is undeniable that last season in particular he became very selfish; operating as a no.10 when meant to be a no.8 and seemingly going for glory shots when a pass would’ve been better. And when you… Read more »
Glad to see from your blog someone has the same views on the England match as me. Although we won it in the end, why Wilshire wasnt put on at some point I dont know, I was expecting him at half time. Against a packed defence like that hes the only England player who can operate in the tight spaces between the lines, and can play on the half turn in those spaces and so open up defences, instead it was play it up to someone like Alli with their back to goal who would play it to Rooney to… Read more »
England are so poor. I was hoping they would lose. Deschamps has the balls to drop Pogba but Hodgson doesn’t have the balls to drop Rooney. I’d rather play midfielders in midfield, Roy. Not strikers. Wilshere, Lallana, Henderson and Dier should be our midfield.
I am not much of a Rooney fan.
But honestly, he was England’s best midfielder by a long shot yesterday. It’s obvious to see why; England are really so void of technical passing ability, that Rooney stands out easily (even with his annoying gerrard-esque Hollywood passes to Walker).
That said I think a midfield 3 of Rooney and Jack would make a much better fit in terms of passing, possession and unlocking defences. Alli is a different type of no.10, and I’m not sure it particularly suits England.
I fucking loathe Rooney, but credit where credit is due, he’s played well in the two games so far.
a midfield 3 of Rooney and Jack would struggle
Pogba is 1000 times the player Ramsey is. We should send Ramsey to Italy or Spain on loan to get skillful on the ball. He is overhyped now. He is one for the future.
I think he deserves a little more respect than your showing. the guy has literally shed blood, sweat and tears for the Arsenal in his 8yr with us and helped us win trophies. and by the way Pogba plays for Juventus
Without Ramsey three years ago, we would have finished 10th of league. No joke, he single handedly saved our season. People are impressed by Mahrez but Ramsey did same that year. Too bad he reverted to his usual inconsistent game.
A bit harsh, if anything he hogs the ball too long, yesterday there were a few times he could’ve started a counter but dribbles into a crowd. The one season he decides to iron this issue out resulted in him bagging player of the season. Apart from that his stamina and tackling was apparent yesterday, which is good to see.
On another note, sorry to the English fans on here but as a neutral I really hoped Wales won yesterday purely due to the sheer cuntery of the BBC commentary team. They lick every shit up Alli’s arse so bad my ears were almost bleeding. From the “push” on Alli which they claim is a definite penalty shout (when all season long we have to keep up with them defending Shawcross’ tendency to manhandle in the box), to paying no attention to Alli’s cowardly push on Ramsey. Then the ultimate piss take on Alli having “tremendous awareness” to lay the… Read more »
No doubt the commentary team are awful, but Robbie Savage was the voice of Wales on the BBC. There is no amount of pain and disappointment sufficient for that man.
Neutral here. Was watching the England-Wales game and just wanted to ask- was Ramsey that great in the game? Granted, he covered a lot of ground but got turned far too easily by Rooney, of all people and got caught in possession by Alli a couple of times. Surely it was just an okay performance from Aaron? He’s been decent for the couple of games he’s played so far but nowhere near his form for us a few years ago.